


Claustrophobia

by bottledyarn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 13:12:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/573657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottledyarn/pseuds/bottledyarn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall has a panic attack because of his claustrophobia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claustrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Originally by request on my tumblr.

            “JESUS CHRIST!” Niall shouted, kicking the elevator doors as if that would force them open.  “OPEN!”

            “Just sit down, we already pressed the call button,” Liam muttered from the floor.  “Kicking the door won’t do anything.”

            Niall slumped to the ground, curling himself into the corner. “I hate elevators,” he moaned, putting his head between his knees. “I knew we should have taken the stairs.”

            “We were going up twenty flights, Niall,” Zayn said. “We’ll probably be out of here by the time that we would have gotten up the stairs.”

            “Unless the elevator breaks or gets really stuck and we die here,” Niall said, his voice muffled by his knee.

            “Are you okay?” Louis asked. “You look like an armadillo.”

            “An armadillo?” Harry gave Louis a small whack and turned to the balled-up Niall. “Is it the lift?”

            Niall groaned and stood up, shaking his limbs out slightly, almost hitting Zayn in the face. “I just hate small spaces.  Especially ones that can fall and explode and kill us all.”

            “It’s not that ba-” The elevator lights suddenly blinked out, replaced by eerie red emergency lights.  “Okay, that’s a little creepy,” Liam finished, peering around the near-dark box.

            “Oh, god,” Niall muttered, starting to pace slightly. He could only take two steps before turning, what with the small space and the boys sprawled on the floor.

            “Just sit down, Niall,” Louis said. “Jostling the thing isn’t going to help.”

            Niall sat down abruptly, taking fast breaths. “It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay,” Niall said quietly to himself.

            “You’re insane,” Zayn said. “It’s just a stuck lift.  It happens all the time.”

            “And some of those times, it actually ends in death,” Niall snapped, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes.  “I hate this.”

            “It’ll probably be only a few minutes,” Harry said. “I’ve been stuck in a lift before, it took five minutes.”

            “It’s already been five minutes.  What if this is like kidnapping, and once a certain period of time goes by, there’s no chance? And what if that time is five minutes?”

            “Calm your tits,” Louis said. “Just breathe.”

            “I am breathing!” Niall exclaimed. “Oh, god, what if we run out of air. Is this air tight?”

            “No…a guy was stuck in an elevator for days once, and he was fine,” Harry said. “I saw it online.”

            “ _Days_?” Niall shouted. “Days in this coffin of doom?”

            “I think you’re being a little over dramatic,” Zayn said. “It’s just a lift.”

            Niall took a deep breath, sounding slightly shaky. “It’s just a lift when it doesn’t stop halfway.”

            It took an hour to get them out of the elevator- halfway through said hour, Niall started hyperventilating, moaning about how he didn’t want to die this way.  Liam started petting his head, trying to calm him down.  It didn’t really work, Niall just got angry and upset.

            When the lights flickered back on and the lift starting moving again, Niall started crying.  Outright sobbing.

            “This is a good thing, for god’s sake,” Zayn said. “Stop crying.”

            “We’re getting out of here!” Niall exclaimed, his voice rather squeaky and gasp-y from crying.

            The doors finally opened, and Niall burst out, throwing his arms around the janitor standing outside.

            “Thank you,” Niall said sincerely.  “But you could have been a little faster.”

            The man nodded, slightly freaked out by the tear-streaked boy. 

            “Sorry,” he said, stepping past Niall into the elevator.

            The other boys patted Niall’s back, glad that their friend was regaining his normality. 

            “I’m never taking an lift again,” Niall moaned, shaking his head.

            “Yes, you are. We’re not going to wait for you every time we visit a tall building,” Harry said. “We’ll drag you in if we have to.”

            “Why weren’t any of you bothered by that?” Niall asked.

            “It happens all the time!” Zayn said again. “It’s not like it just started falling out of control.”

            Niall stared at him for a moment, and then shook his head. “No more lifts.”


End file.
